"BEFORE You POST"(Please read this Procedure Before Requesting Assistance)- Updated

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"BEFORE You POST"(Please read this Procedure Before Requesting Assistance)- Updated

Malware Removal Forum: volunteers with the following titles above their avatar are authorized to assist members.

Security Team, Malware Team, Teacher, Security Expert.
Members may not post to another user's topic.

Analysts on the Security Team are advanced students whose responses are passed by their teachers, some of whom help here.

You are in capable hands with any person authorized to assist members in this forum.

That said, there is always risk involved in installing and removing any software. Even a fix that time has shown to be useful to thousands of users, can present problems to a few or be found to have a bug in development.

While best efforts are made to assist in removing infections safely, unexpected stuff can happen. It is advisable that you back up your important data before starting any clean up procedure. Neither Safer Networking Forums nor the Analyst providing the advice may be held responsible for any loss.

Duly noted by members, please start a topic and provide the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST) and aswMBR logs for analysis. No Malware logs are to be posted in any of our other forums.

Before doing so, read post #2 below,Before you post the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and aswMBR logs which also shows how to produce them.
If the infection prevents you from running Farbar (FRST) and/or aswMBR please start a topic and make note of the situation, provide details of the computer's current symptoms and wait for a response.

Please do not use System Restore trying to remove an infection. Doing so would only serve to destroy a known restore point (dirty or not) and won't remove the malware. Let your helper advise you as to when a System Restore flush is called for.

If one has already run tools/fixes before posting please inform your helper, so that s/he is aware changes may have been made to the system and why. Running fixes before being assisted can destroy evidence in an infection, leaving the malware difficult to detect. Please do not attempt to "do it yourself" while waiting for someone to respond to your topic.

Note that all instructions given are customized for that member's personal computer only, the tools used may cause damage if run on a machine with different specs/infections. Please do not take fixes given to another user and apply to your own machine.

If someone posts instructions in their own topic, "this worked for me", it will be removed, possibly without notice. Just so you know. Please do not send similar private messages to other members.

Posters who start topics at multiple sites for their PC problem waste valuable volunteer resources as our analysts assist people at several forums. Reading logs and the research involved takes time.

Worse scenario would be to run fixes given at one site unbeknown to the person helping the same user elsewhere. If you have already requested help at another site choose where you wish to continue and advise all parties.

Do not pm logs or malware removal requests to volunteer helpers, assistance is provided in the forums. The forums are public, if you do not feel comfortable posting logs where they will remain visible please do not start a topic. Otherwise, please use "Preview Post" to check for any personal details such as email addresses you'd rather omit before you "Submit Reply".

Please do not start more than one topic for the same computer during the same period. It will either be removed, closed or merged with your original thread.

If you have more than one possibly infected computer in the house please let your helper know. Start a new topic for the next machine, providing new logs from Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and aswMBR when the prior thread has been successfully closed.

Posting additional comments or logs before a volunteer responds can push you back instead of forward, because your thread ends up with a newer date. In addition helpers would think you are already being assisted because of the post count, they look for topics with a 0 response. For that reason we may merge such posts.

Please do not attach or link to possibly infected files and/or URLS, if an analyst requests files s/he will give you a link to upload them.

If your computer shows no symptoms of infection there is no need to post a log in this forum, as in requesting a 'checkup' for no malware removal reason but only to show a log.

At this time threads may now be closed three days after last post in topic at the discretion of the volunteer. Please subscribe to your topic so you know when a reply has been posted. If the topic has been archived and you still require help start a new topic and include fresh Farbar (FRST) & aswMBR logs with a link to your previous thread. Please do not post any other logs, you'd be starting fresh.

It takes time to analyze logs and prepare a response. Volunteers help users at several sites, and take X number of new topics in order to give each member their attention and avoid burnout.

Thank you.

Towards the end of a cleanup please make sure youfollow through with any final log requested, even if it appears to you that your computer is back to normal operation, and when asked to post back one more time please do so. As much as we like our members we would rather not see you back in a few weeks because the disinfecting wasn't finished and final instructions given.

Along the same vein, this free service is provided by volunteers to assist in the removal of malware from personal computers and provide useful information to prevent an infection from happening again. Although "stuff happens", a helper's intention is not to repeatedly remove malware from the same member's machine/s.